


You Can Fall For Pretty Strangers

by Thistlerose



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Torchwood
Genre: Casual Sex, Crossover, F/M, Memory Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-13
Updated: 2013-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-08 09:40:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/759907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thistlerose/pseuds/Thistlerose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's going to wipe his memory, anyway.  Might as well have some fun first, right?  Written in 2007.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Can Fall For Pretty Strangers

Tonks shoved the troll's corpse off the dead bloke, then squatted beside him and held her lighted wand close to his face. 

"Oh, you _would_ be pretty," she grumbled. "Just my luck. Not that I'd feel any better if you were an absolute minger."

"Well, that's good to know," said the dead bloke.

Tonks fell back on her bum.

The dead guy coughed. Blood and dirty water flecked his lips. "Oh, god. You know, this never stops sucking."

"So, I take it this isn't your first time," Tonks said warily, grasping her wand and getting ready to spring to her feet. He couldn't be an inferi; they didn't talk. But then, neither did most people who'd been slammed by a troll into a brick wall, then drowned in a puddle of stagnant water. This fellow hadn't had a heartbeat a moment ago. Now he was pushing himself up on his elbows and knees, coughing and wincing, blinking his very blue eyes.

"I'm going to need a drink," said the erstwhile dead guy. He glanced at the body of the troll, which filled most of the alley and – to Tonks's relief – hadn't moved from where she'd left it slumped. "A really stiff drink."

"You're American," Tonks observed, feeling a bit light-headed. "And you didn't answer my question."

The man got his feet under him and started to push himself up. He was about halfway up when his face suddenly went white and he started to sway. Tonks jumped up and grabbed his arms to steady him. Through the thick wool of his sleeves, she could feel his muscles bunching with effort.

"I really thought you were dead," Tonks said. "Maybe you shouldn't get up just yet. You could be hurt badly."

"I'm all right. I just need a second."

"Maybe you should sit back down."

His lips quirked. "But this is kind of nice."

Tonks looked away. 

"Oh, come on. You saved my life. Well, actually, you didn't. But you got the ogre off me. Doesn't that warrant a little flirting?"

"No." Tonks was irritated. "And that's not an ogre, it's a troll." 

"Whatever. I'm sorry. For whatever I said or did that upset you. Come on. I could really use a drink. After we get the troll out of sight, of course."

Tonks bit her lip and fingered her wand. She'd thought at first that he was a wizard. But what wizard didn't know a troll from an ogre? Maybe that sort of thing wasn't taught at American schools. Or maybe he'd been an exceptionally bad student. Something in her buzzed with alarm. She'd have to proceed cautiously. She didn't want to have to modify his memory. 

"By the way," the man said in a conversational tone, "I'm Jack."

"Tonks," she replied absently.

"Like the cats?"

"What?"

"Tonkinese. Tonks."

"Yeah. Whatever. Let go of me so I can figure out what to do."

"Number one," Jack said, "you're the one holding onto me. Number two…" His voice rippled with amusement. "You can't figure things out while we're standing close?"

"Oh, you." Tonks let go of his arms and shoved him away. His legs wobbled, but he managed to stay upright, which was good for him, since Tonks had no intention of pulling him up again. 

She raked her fingers through her hair. "Right. Big dead troll. I need backup."

"How'd you kill it?" Jack asked. "My bullets barely grazed the skin."

_Shit,_ thought Tonks. She hated modifying memories. There were plenty of things – things she'd witnessed during the war, certain relationships – that she often wished she could forget, but she chose to keep them. _Her_ choice. It didn't seem right, taking the power of choice away from others, though she understood the reasoning behind the rule. Most of the time.

This bloke was odd. He'd been felled by a good-sized troll; he ought to have a concussion, maybe some broken bones. True, most of his body was covered and the streetlamp didn't provide much light, but Tonks didn't see any bruises on his hands or face. Also, most Muggles would be at least a little disconcerted by the sight of a troll in the streets of Cardiff. Or anywhere else. Jack seemed to be taking the whole experience in stride. 

Maybe he was in shock.

"Now you're the one not answering questions," Jack said, close to her ear. She hadn't heard him approach. "How'd you kill the troll? How'd you get it off me?"

Tonks swallowed. "Magic."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Can you just magic the troll away?"

"Someone would notice. He's too big."

"Out of curiosity," Jack said, "what's a troll doing in Cardiff?"

Probably, thought Tonks grimly, this was someone's idea of a joke. Let a troll loose in a crowded Muggle city, sit back and laugh at the ensuing chaos. Voldemort and most of his Death Eaters might have been killed in the war, but the need for some people to be assholes was very much alive. 

"Oh, you know," she said casually. "Probably just fancied a drink and some chips. Caught a glimpse of you and changed plans."

"I do have that effect on people. And other things. Could do with a drink myself. You?"

"Excuse me?"

"Drink," he said, grinning down at her. "Chips."

"Dead troll," she said, pointing.

"Right. Can you cover him up with something? Turn him invisible?"

"I can't risk anyone finding him."

Jack raised his hands slowly, which confused Tonks until she felt them on her shoulders. She shrugged away.

Jack let his hands fall in a way that made Tonks think he was telling her silently, _Your loss._

"Seriously," she said, annoyed with herself as much as with him. She could understand it if he needed some comforting after his near-death experience, but she hadn't the time. There was too much to get sorted. 

"Seriously," Jack mimicked. He pointed to the alley's mouth. A car went past without slowing. "Very few people would come in here this late at night. And even if they did, you'd be amazed how little most people are willing to trust their own senses."

"No, I wouldn't," said Tonks mildly.

"Maybe not. Hide him for now, I'll buy you a drink, then afterward, we can come back and deal with the big guy."

_I shouldn't,_ she thought, knowing already that she would. _I really, really shouldn't. Kingsley'll have my hide if he finds out._ But then she thought, _I'm going to modify his memory, anyway. Might as well have a decent time, first. Enough beer, and maybe I can convince him he imagined all this._

"Come on." She felt his curled finger under her chin, tilting her head back. 

_It's just that it's been so long. The troll's dead. This fellow almost died. He needs company. And I need…_

"I want to see some magic," said Jack.

*

They had drinks and a basket of chips in a nearby pub overlooking the docks. Jack chatted her up. Tonks listened, her elbow on the bar, her palm cupping her cheek, sure he was making certain things up, pretty sure he knew she knew, not caring because it didn't matter. She didn't drink much, noticed that he didn't either. This dismayed her at first, but when he leaned closer and she tasted the mint in his breath, felt his fingertips brush her knee, something loosened inside her.

If he was using her, she thought as he led her into the WC and backed her against a stall, that didn't matter either. She could take him down if she had to; he wasn't big. Well, all right - _overall_ , he wasn't big. She was cupping him as she thought this and he was nuzzling her neck and pushing her shirt up over her bra. 

"Can you lock the door?" he muttered, covering her breasts with his hands and squeezing gently. He dropped kisses along her jaw. "By magic?"

"Yeah…" 

"Maybe you'd better."

_Bad idea,_ went an alarm in her head – one that sounded suspiciously like her mum. _Really bad idea._

"Piss off. You said that about the boots I bought last month."

" _What?_ " sputtered Jack.

"Nothing."

"Hey." He grinned. "I'm not one to deny to allure of a great pair of shoes." In the WC's dim lighting and under the shadow of his long lashes, his eyes were a very dark blue, almost black. There were lines at the corners of his eyes and mouth that Tonks had not noticed out in the alley or when they'd been drinking. She studied him and as she did, the oddest thing occurred to her. He'd seemed fairly young at first – only four or five years older than she was. Maybe it was the beer she'd barely drunk, maybe it was something else, but it occurred to her that he wasn't _young_ so much as _recycled._ Renewed. She couldn't explain it, and a moment later Jack said, "Unless a great pair of shoes is what gets you off," and she forgot about it.

"They do on occasion," said Tonks candidly. 

"You wouldn't happen to be wearing them, would you?"

"Don't tell me you've got a shoe fetish." She'd been with men who'd had stranger hang-ups. 

"Let's call it an appreciation." He hooked his index fingers around her bra straps and slid them over her shoulders. "I wouldn't mind seeing you in them. Just—" He ducked his head and took her left nipple between his lips, swirling his tongue around it. "Them." He went to her right nipple.

Tonks's knees began to quiver. She couldn't let him take control – but that thought came sluggishly. She ought to… What was it she'd meant to do? She had her wand in her hand. Was she going to cast a spell? 

His memory. She had to make him forget the troll and the spell she'd cast to conceal the troll. She probably ought to make him forget _this_ too. 

_After._

She unzipped his flies.

 

They did it against the stall in just their boots. Lifted off her feet, Tonks was able to watch them in the mirror, over his bare, sweat-slicked shoulder. Watched the way the muscles of his back moved, clench, release, clench, release, as he moved in and out of her. Watched the way her own hair bounced and went from lilac to pink to scarlet, to an almost blinding white as her orgasm rippled through her.

She remembered to wipe his memory afterward. She did it while he was disposing of the condom, his back to her; he never saw he raise her wand.

She got dressed, laughed when, looking utterly bewildered, he asked her what they were doing.

"Isn't it obvious?" She handed him his pants. "Better get home and sober up."

He frowned and put his hand to his head. "It's the weirdest thing. I swear…" His grin lit the room briefly. "But it was good, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Tonks said, that queer sluggishness creeping back over her. "Bloody brilliant."

 

She'd nearly reached the alley when the drug he'd slipped into her beer caught up with her. 

"Odd," she said, tugging in confusion at a strand of hair. It had been lilac when she'd started out, hadn't it?

_Either I've been Confounded, or I really need to get to bed._

She didn't feel as if she'd been hit by a spell. On the contrary, her body ached rather deliciously.

_Bed,_ she decided and Apparated home.

*

"So, did you catch it?" Gwen asked when Jack returned to the Hub.

He looked at her blankly. 

"Did you _see_ it, anyway?" she pressed. "Come on. The giant. Or the ogre – whatever it was."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I can tell you what I _did_ see, though," he offered slyly, remembering the girl with the white hair and the rumpled clothes.

Gwen's eyebrows disappeared behind her bangs. "You really don't remember setting out this evening with the plan to catch the ogre-thing someone said he'd spotted down by the docks."

"No," said Jack slowly. "This isn't a joke?" But he knew he needn't have asked. Gwen wouldn't. "Damn. I'll just have to find her again. Poor me. Poor, poor me."

"D'you know her name?" Gwen asked helpfully. "Maybe there are police records."

"I don't know her name." He grinned down at her. "Are you scandalized?"

"You're awfully glib for someone who's had his memory tampered with."

The grin faded. "Well," he said tightly, "it's not exactly new. However, I'd like to question this girl before I jump to conclusions. She might be innocent."

Gwen crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him dubiously. "She was pretty, I take it?"

"Wouldn't have been in the ladies' room with her if she weren't. I'll find her. Hair like that? She'll be unmistakable."

2/23/07


End file.
